From: "Michael Staples" <michael-AT-intersubjectivestudies.com> Subject: RE: Zollikon: Unconscious Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 19:24:59 -0800 In thinking about the role of the unconscious in psychopathology, I would start with the notion of "Normalcy" and "Functional," both of which seem to me to be relative to the culture into which one is thrown. For the most part, "Normal" is culturally determined. The fact that some features of "Normal" are consistent from culture to culture makes no difference to it's relative nature, for lack of a better term. One can feel abnormal to one's self (ego-dystonic). Or one can be deemed abnormal by others while feeling perfectly normal to one's self (ego-syntonic). Presumably, feeling abnormal to one's self would indicate that one is somehow out of whack with one's culture. Again, it's a relative thing going on here. Same for "functionality." One feels "dysfunctional" if the standard to which one compares one's self to is being violated. Or, you can feel just fine about beating your wife, for instance, but be seen as "dysfunctional" by others. One of the principle goals of Insurance companies is to "cure" the individual back into the sort of normalcy or functionality required to keep working your fanny into the ground doing whatever soul-stripping, boring work you might be faced with on a day-to-day basis (OK, OK, so this is a tad negative -- I got carried away). I don't think Jung would have placed much stock in the term "Normal." I don't recall any talk one way or another here. But the term "Healthy" came up. And healthy was generally associated with a sense of balance. But balance between what and what? Well...balance between the conscious mind (the ego), and the unconscious mind (the true Self) -- his map, not necessarily mine. Indeed, the unconscious with Jung is given more than did Freud. Freud thought of the unconscious as a kind of empty repository to be filled up with stuff from the ego (consciousness). Jung thought of the unconscious as a kind of background presence describing the other end of the human being, the more important end, the spiritual end, with a goal of its own that could easily run counter to the ego. But in either case (Freud's or Jung's), the what was needed to be "healthy" was an appropriate balance between the organization of the unconscious and the organization of consciousness (note that I left out the 'organizing principle' of the unconscious). The term "health" or to "Heal" is followed back through a cognizant root that means to be whole. All the talk in Jungian parlance about "Integration" refers to obtaining to wholeness. Schizophrenia (the term which Jung helped coin) referred to a splitting off or splitting up of the wholeness of the psyche. Complexes (anothr term which Jung coined) referred to splinter psyche's. To heal meant to bring these split off parts back to the psyche just as the healing of a bone means to fuse the split-off ends together again. Now there are all kinds of little mechanisms psychology has cooked up to take these initial fantasies several steps further. But let me ask first if you coule elaborate on what you suggested concerning determinism vs. free will. This won't leave me alone. I'm wondering if this might not be more important to our discussion that I had originally thought. After all, the entire framework of the unconscious revolves around the questions of who or what done-it. Dertminism would say that given your history, you had no choice other than to leave the strainer out at that particular moment. Free will would say that you merely chose to focus on something else, but you "could have" popped the strainer in had you chose to do so. And the language of the unconscious would say that some secondary subject (or, as I suggested...some order to your world at the time) had a hand in the coffee-making process that had some meaning that could be approached hermeneutically. What would be the temporal approach to the event? Michael S. --- from list heidegger-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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